And The Best Actors Are...

Well, in my humble opinion anyway, Robert Deniro, Anthony Hopkins, and Paul Newman. Deniro, for the sheer transformation he undertakes in his roles. I picked side by side shots of him to show how he actually became Jake LaMotta the middleweight boxer of the 50's. He packed on the pounds. He is an amazing actor. Anthony Hopkins I love. He was soooo frightening as Hannibal Lecter. What a character! Legends of The Fall, The Wolfman, I think he is just fantastic. Then there is Paul Newman. I included 2 pics of Paul when he was young so that the younger girls in the group can see just how gorgeous this man was. He had the bluest of blue eyes! He aged with the same beauty. Newman had so many unbelievable movies, but it took the Academy till 1986 to finally give him the nod for The Color Of Money. He snubbed them and said-

"It's like chasing a beautiful woman for 80 years. Finally, she relents and you say, 'I'm terribly sorry. I'm tired.'"

Movies like Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, The Sting, Absence of Malice, The Verdict. Splendid actor, and a devoted husband to actress Joann Woodward. He was on I think the Mike Douglas show oh so many years ago and he was asked why his marriage works so well and he said "Why go out for hamburger when you have filet mignon at home."

Of course there are honorable mentions, Meryly Streep, Glenn Close, Denzel Washington, Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, though I must say, Ally boy has become a caricature of himself the past several years basically playing the same role just different names.

Well did you expect me not to be opinionated on this subject? Ya'll should know me by now, and I have an opinion on everything!! Some things stronger than others ;), lol!

Here are my layouts for Emma's circle journal followed by the tag for her sign in page and Serene's tag as well. This is turning out to be such a wonderful cj, again I thank my dear Scrap Sistah Diva Lisa for coming up with this great idea!

I used my cricut for the frame, the mats and the lettering. That was the George cart. My doodlebug sugar glitter and some glue with my stamp gave a little zing, and some stars scattered here and there for a simple but nice layout.

Here are the tags-

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I finished Magic Bites and I LOVED it!!! I found it much better than Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison. Don't get me wrong, I'll continue with Harrisons series, but I am moving on to book 2 Magic Burns already. I really like the character Kate Daniels, I like the other players as well. Curran is a shifter, the pack leader, your Majesty if you will. He's a lion, and boy do he and Kate butt heads off the wall! She is a tough cookie willing to die if necessary. The story was her hunt for the killer of her guardian. It takes place in Atlanta, that no longer exists as we know it. Magic abounds everywhere, the vamps are so very gross, not like True Blood or Twilight, very very different. Pick it up, well worth it.

Do you know I have read over 6000 pages since the 1st of the year already? 6690 pages to be exact, and 19 books! I'm keeping track to see how much I can do in one year, kinda neat.

Spring Is Slowly Sprunging

The weather here has been just beautiful. I love the spring, not to hot, not to cold. Just right. The kids have been on spring break the past 2 weeks, we've gone to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which was very funny. The kids are enjoying being home. I can't believe Sunday is already Palm Sunday. Time is just flying. The kids only have 2 1/2 months of school left. Their last day is June 10th

I have finished a wonderful book my Mom bought me. It's called Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. It's chick lit about a group of ecclectic woman who have formed a bond through their knitting club. They meet each week and one is more different than the next. The store owner is Georgia Walker, a single mom of a pre-teen girl named Dakota. The book takes you through the different tribulations of each's life, with the main focus being Georgia. Very bittersweet. A nice light read and I recommend it.

I am now reading Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews which is actually a husband/wife author team. The lead character is Kate Daniels. She is a mercenary of the paranormal type. She goes out and kicks booty!! There are vamps and shifters, she possesses magic, and when her guardian is killed, she vows to catch the killer. I like it so far, even though they are world building like in Dead Witch Walking, I find their writing style smoother and more enjoyable. I can 't wait to see what happens.

For those of you who have laptops, or even regular pc's, Amazon has a kindle app for mac's and your pc, scroll down to the bottom of the page past the description for the regular kindle and get yourself set up. You can download it for free and read books right on your puter! If you have a lap top, you can sit on your couch nice and read books. There are soooo many free books out there too!

Here are a couple more pics of my Baseball Boy Santino. While he may be small he is so into playing, and he does real well as pitcher and first base. He knows just what he's supposed to do!

I have to get cracking on my tag for Serene's cj, it will be in the vein of the layout which was unusual doings. Next up is Emma's cj, subject being top 3 actors. I am stoked, got their pics all chosen and ready to go!! When I post Emma's I'll put up the tags as well. Have a great weekend, find a good book and read ;)

That's Unusual!

Do I have your attention? lol! Well I don't know how unusual it is, but my friend Serene's cj subject is 4 unusual things you've done. Okay at first I was saying "I'm in trouble", but I started getting the smoke going and I came up with 4!!

1. We were on The Family Feud! Imagine that?! When we first moved to cali my hubs signed us up. Myself, hubs bils Mark and Al, and my Father-in-law went on. Had a blast, won $2000 to split, and more Rits dye and WD40 that I could ever use!!! I would say that is THE most unusual thing we've done.



2. Moving to California with no promise of a job, just cheaper housing. Most would never make such a big move from one coast to the other without the promise of really good employment. It was a very hard thing for me, and at times I seriously contemplated going home since we struggled for a long while. And yes, New York is still home. I've lived here almost 21 yrs and I will always say, "Oh I'm going to be going home for a visit."



3. Having 6 kids. Yes, it's unusual, in a day and age when most only have 2 maybe 3 tops we went and had 6, nuff said ;)



4. Getting married at 16 and still being married. Most wouldn't get married so young, I certainly wouldn't encourage it in any of my own, but the fact that 29 yrs later we're still going strong and he's the light of my life, well that's unusual!

So there ya go. Not oddball out of this world, but I guess a bit unusual. Here are my layout pics-

I haven't done the tag yet, I can't remember what it was. I'll get on that as soon as I find out what it is and then I'll put it up.

Here are some cards I've completed. My favorite is the Fairy card I made for Sophia's birthday with the Tinkerbell cricut cart.

Finshed reading Evil At Heart. I highly recommend this series, here is my quick review -

As always Ms. Cain does not dissapoint! Gretchen Lowell is so twisted and an insane genious, it's amazing. She knows just how to manipulate, and she can read people so well it is shocking.

Archie is so on the edge. If it would have been available to him he would have slipped right back into his drugged haze. I fully enjoyed this book, I was proud that Archie fought his demons, as hard as it was for him. I'm sad about he and his wife. We'll have to see, since there is most certainly an opportunity for #4.

The only thing that bothered me was all the crap that keeps happening to him and reporter, uh I mean journalist, since she prefers that title, Susan Ward. It's like, oh my gosh, what else is gonna happen. Kind of reminded me of Andy Sipowitz from NYPD Blue, everything under the sun that could go wrong did! It starts to get a little old. That and the fact that Archie lied to his partner Henry. Cop partners have a very special relationship, and Henry loves Arhie and has had Archie's back, has saved him and pulled him back from the depths so often, I was shocked that the author allowed that to be.

All in all, an awesome read. Gretchen Lowell is without a doubt a fantasic psycho, Ms Cain has outdone herself with this series and hope she gives us more!

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I am now reading Dead Witch Walking, by Kim Harrison. It's a little slow going, she is building the world and characters, it is definitely urban fantasy, the romance is non-exsistant. It'll come in some of the later books, but for now she is busy building the worlds. Rachel is a witch, and she just quit the I.S which is like the CIA for the supernatural. There is now a hit out on her and she is trying to stay alive while catching a bad guy that will buy her her freedom. Jenks is her pixie sidekick, he is very funny, and Ivy is her non-dead vampire somewhat friend who she lives with. Yes un-dead. In Ms Harrison's world vamps can be born and then die into full vampdom. Ivy hasn't been a practicing vamp in 3 yrs, not drinking blood, and Rachel is still so very wary of her. I'm almost done and will continue in the series.